Results for tag "westworld"

I HAVE SO MANY DESIRES FOR THIS R/C TUMBLER I CANT EVEN. Only second to my desires for a fully functional 1:1 scale version. HA.

Meanwhile, for science:

I remain on the fence regarding all this Henry Cavill business. I like him, and I’m not convinced that this isn’t all just some contract negotiation or something. His tweet last night was WEIRD. Anyway, the internet is rumbling forward, like those Mortal Engines… here’s some good thoughts about a fresh take on Superman… and here’s the current (apparently) Vegas odds… along with another set of ideas, with some overlap… of course Bosslogic is already at it, as well, pissing off some people who can’t grasp a non-anglo Supes….

I have seen virtually nothing with Aaron Paul, though I’m well aware of him and his pedigree. Sounds like a great add to Westworld!

This series of arts featuring warrior versions of Disney Princesses was controversial in my home. It was first seen by my lovely wife, who had a very negative reaction to the weapons “That’s the answer? Arm them?” and I realized that I saw it, positively, coming from the young adult/adult RPG/cosplay perspective, not the viewpoint of young girls. Interesting!

I saw this Lego KITT and cracked up, imagining a stop motion thing where you move a red brick left to right along the front to make the light bar. HA. I amuse me.

Oh boy, what have they done. Robot Man was looking cool in profile… but check out his smashed together eyes and jangy mouth. GUH.

This fan theory about Iron Man I agree with. I felt similar. Like any good time travel/time revert story, the pivotal character must be faced with losing something. Think that incredible end of Fringe. That it would be Iron Man makes the most sense.

Taika Waititi confirmed that he’s not adapting the Akira film, but rather going after the voluminous book series. I find that interesting. There’s so much more THERE there, and also gives him more to do than just a remake.

Speaking of ambitious, Apple is adapting the I, Robot series of works from Isaac Asimov.

Woody Harrelson may or may not be playing Carnage in the Venom film. I say DO IT.

If you want to know secret stuff that isn’t surprising stuff, regarding Iron Spidey in Avengers: Infinity War, read on. In other Marvel news, I think this poster shot shows that Evangeline Lily should have been a Marvel heroine years and years ago. She looks really motivated.

Eric Bana is set to star in the first season of Dirty John, some sort of anthology-based true crime show on Bravo that isn’t True Detective on HBO, and inexplicably features a character name as the title, which begs questions about it’s anthology nature.

This is pissing all the right people off: Westworld creators said they’d let Reddit superfans in on the active development of S02, which starts later this month… they announced a few days ago that their plan was to circumvent the huge hunt for answers and easter eggs and spoilers by actually giving the subreddit access to a video that explains the S02 plot, so they can opt-in if desired, as long as they keep it to themselves and don’t leak it to mainstream press. Then last night they released a video, which ended up being an elaborate Rick-Roll… LITERALLY… I love it. Speaking of, you know I’m down with S02’s Shogunworld.

The Shazam costume may or may not be objectively bad… but I liked Zachari Levi’s comments about the intrinsic insecurity of pre-haters.

I was totally into it, until I realized the pilot’s legs are fake and its just a stilt construct. I mean, not JUST, but you know.

The BBC is launching a big budget early 20s adaptation of War of the Worlds. I’m 300% on board…

I initially dismissed Bosslogic’s manip of Krasinski and Blunt as Reed and Sue of the FF as being too current, given the obsession with their current film… but looking at it more closely, I’d be down with all of these casting ideas. I still think Richards needs to be older, greying and aloof… but even more than that, they need to be a believable couple… and this pair have proven they can be, on screen…

The Meg, which I always assumed would be terrible, actually amused me. So much reminding me of Jaws 3 in 3D… but also Deep Blue Sea, which I actually never saw. I do love 4th wall characters like Rainn Wilson’s one here, just saying it like it is.

Similarly, I dismissed Upgrade when the teaser came out awhile back as being a B-movie… but it does have some interesting elements in it. Logan Marshall-Green affects an unusual stance when the AI is doing the fighting for him, almost a hangjawed expression and slouched neck against a rigid posture, but he was Shocker #1 in Homecoming and soldier X in Prometheus, so let’s give it a shot.

Terminal appears to be based on a pitch like: “Imagine Atomic Blonde but with Margot Robbie and made to look like Lock Stock plus we’ll include one of those actors even, for authenticity“… but I’m still on board.

Mot interesting news of the week for me has been the casting announcement of Karl Urban as Billy the Butcher, in The Boys. Many other casting nods within, as well.

Back for an extremely rare Nipponese Robot-Kraken session!

Rian Johnson is saying all the right things, in a way, regarding how to make another trilogy compelling and not saturated. Avoiding: ‘Oh, I loved that thing. Oh, I remember that thing!’ On the other hand, I DO love that thing, and remember it. But either way. The idea of making new stories set in the same environment but not with the ‘Skywalker royalty’ involved is a very good thing in my book. Thats a part of why Rogue One may be my favorite film from the series.

There’s a lot of memetic 4th wall business happening over Spielberg possibly saying a future Indiana Jones could be female. Beyond the awkward wrongness of ‘Indiana Joan’ (I think an affect of a badly processed verbal pun) it also reminds me of how badly fetishistic and pervy he and Lucas were about the original casting concepts for Marion. But anyway, I’m down!

Someday, someone’s going to get Tony Gilroy to open up about what happened on Rogue One, and it’s going to be a hell of an interview. He gives no shits, and pulled off a salvage to make an excellent and refreshing Star Wars film in my book, and it’s reallllly tantalizing, imagining the state the Gareth Edwards version was in when he took over. Said as someone who likes Gareth Edwards, even.

Despite resolving as the lowest moneymaker in the DCEU lineup thus far, fan interest remains strong enough to put Justice League at the top of weekly DVD/Blu-Ray sales, which isn’t surprising: the film may not have had staying power in theaters, but it’s a no-brainer for comic and action movie fans to have at home. Also, this image above.

Meanwhile, in space:

Lord and Miller are getting an Executive Producer credit on Han Solo, which is actually a positive thing: easy to imagine them having no credit at all, given how much of the film was reshot. Meanwhile, Ryan Reynolds is getting a writing credit on Deadpool 2, which shows how much his personal sense of humor has helped shape the character’s success, I think.

These unfinished shots of the aborted Justice League film costumes are pretty interesting in that Fringe Universe sort of way. I don’t hate them as much as others on the supernet, that’s for sure. I certainly struggle with redesigns of major franchise characters, but the Superman look here reminds me of something hovering between Rance’s redesign and mine. Don’t pay any attention to this Batman design, though. It’s atrocious.

Not that this was necessarily the BEST choice (I’ve long given up on what’s right or wrong in these award shows) but what an interesting and cool surprise that Shape of Water took Best Picture and Best Director! A bit of nerd broke through…

All this talk about Captain Marvel being an action comedy… my first blush was that they are trying to apply the GoG/Ant-Man/Ragnorok concept to projects that don’t want it… but then again, the emphasis on her being ‘a sassy smartass’ suggest to me more that they wrote her to give zero fucks, which is something I could get behind.

Deadpool 2’s new trailer is pretty much spot on what you’d expect, and it works perfectly. Favorite detail: Chunk’s shirt from Goonies! I love it.

In Movies that Aren’t Black Widow News: Milla Jovovich has replaced Olivia Munn in Hummingbird. I think she’ll do a fine job but I was looking forward to Munn, who, for all the other obvious reasons i’d be on board about it, hasn’t had a series role like this to date and I was interested in seeing how she’d work.

The magical world of what Netflix buys and for what reason continues to intrigue me: for three different reports I’ve read, it appears Abrams and crew new the whole ‘slap Cloverfield references on a sci fi film’ experiment was collapsing, so they sold the project to Netflix for $50M, putting them in the green, as it exceeded their production budget and more importantly allowed them to sidestep the quagmire of marketing costs. Netflix paid a huge sum (though half of the total for Bright) even though they fully understood what they were getting. To say they bought it for post-Super Bowl buzz alone seems almost cynical to write, but that’s the space Netflix is operating in, with the original content streaming wars. We used to ooh and ahh and tssk the outrageous prices for Super Bowl ad time, but that’s an incredible sum just to convince the 5 remaining non-Netflix subscribers to join, and the remaining 99.9999999% of the civilized world to stay on the service. Which is not to say I won’t watch the film (I will) and BTW, Robot-Kraken Podcast guest host Blake ‘Begin Again’ Simmons implored me to watch Bright, saying it was actually pretty good. SO! More on both projects in next month’s show, I’m guessing.

Drunk History features Nichelle Nichols which is pretty awesome. I’d watch it but something in it tripped the sensors in my current host country, so it’ll have to wait.

The most reassuring thing about the details on Harrison Ford’s advisory role on Han Solo is reading that he basically just bullshitted about his experience and what Lucas was always talking about, and then just said, go nuts! Paycheck for light aircraft repair bills… but also, no pushing about the impression or some big speech about looking like a young Harrison Ford, just insights into how Ford felt Solo ticked. Pretty great, actually.

Apparently the Venom trailer will be released while I’m flying across the Pacific. Either I’ll land to accolades or scorn. About the trailer, not my arrival. Everyone’s excited.

Jessica Jones S02 is imminent, and the full trailer looks great. Tone is consistent, actors remain solid… PLUS the addition of Expanse’s Terry Chen (Prax Meng) in a very different role than we last saw for him. That’s AWESOME.

So, not sure, but Titan looks like it might be B-Movie material. However it ALSO reads as a video summary of my entire TRDL Universe situation, more or less, so. There’s that! Accidental marketing.

I’m sure you’ve seen this by now, but this fan-made alternate opening for Force Awakens is pretty rad. Not for what it was intended, because the mystery and interest in the setting of Jakku was perfect as-is and didn’t need explaining. But rather, just to see them tow a Star Destroyer carcass to a jumk planet and then dump it. The movie made it feel, without explanations, like it crashed there from an aerial battle… never thought of it as wreckage being cleared from dangerous hyperspace traffic areas or what have you. Star Wars has always played loose with the idea of space junk. It’s only there when serving the plot.

I love the Super Bowl. I don’t watch the Super Bowl. But I like the ads. THE ADS!

A selection of nerd items I enjoyed…

I still wish the Croc Dundee stunt was a real movie I’d see the SHIT out of. But anyway. The previous trailer was actually better but this was the ‘reveal’ that surprised no one. It was almost like waiting for your lover to break up with you and then it happens and you’re almost relieved its over.

I said I wouldn’t watch it. I lay in my bed, tossing and turning (remember, I’m in Indonesia right now, so future) but then I did anyway. I like the Iron Man armor as realized from the concept art. I don’t get Spidey unmasking in the ring gate scene. I do love that Thanos sneer. This was less exciting than several other trailers, which doesn’t speak negatively of Avengers as much as positively of those other properties that we see the FIRST footage of, instead.

I really enjoy the more recent Mission Impossible stuff… usually… Rogue Nation being the exception because Lung’s blueberries. Anyway, this looks looks great. You just can’t unsee the ankle shattering.

Holy shit, Cloverfield Paradox went to Netflix instead of theaters and is ALREADY live?!? I mean, not for me. I’m locked out regionally atm. But still. For YOU!

And lastly, of COURSE, the promised Solo teaser. I would have put this at the top, I was just so unprepared for how rabidly I want more Westworld. But there’s much to unpack in Solo. I’m waiting for the full trailer tomorrow. Today. Tomorrow. Gah! Anyway, so many things.

The Ultimate Unboxing Video, by goneintorapture.com. I still can’t stop staring at it. I love it so.

Meanwhile, in space:

While the execution is a little rough, i like the concept of Westworld viral being Delos interfaces and data screens that have been corrupted by bloody warnings and cries for help. Also, I’m holding my breath until Westworld S02, thanks. LOVE it.

This look at the new tech used to film the Valkyrie flashbacks in Ragnarok is fascinating, if you’re into that sort of thing, which I am. Otherwise, just look at the test footage, which feels like a microcosm glance at how fun that shoot must have been. All the behind the scenes stuff makes Waititi feel like a force of nature. A subversive one.

I loved this video. I love scale videos. Scale fascinates me. I appreciates that the scale reference module shifts in the video, from a human to a dump truck to the Statue of Liberty. I don’t quite understand the scale mismatch on the Xenomorph (2.1m) and Predator (2.2m) but otherwise very cool. I think my favorite was classic Mothra, complete with a 747 for scale.

The fanbase for Monty Python is dying out (more figuratively than literally, one hopes) but for those of us who remember the animations, here’s great archival of Gilliam walking an interviewer through the cut-animation process. Love it. As the so . of past-up artists in the days before digital, I enjoy reminders of the hands-on crafter approach to all of this prior to the advent of modern tools.

Jessica Jones S02, March 08, that’s all we need to know. No spoilers so far, which I appreciate, other than hints of Purple Man.

Hans Zimmer is apparently scoring Dark Phoenix. This is only important because Zimmer was supposedly retired from supers films. I just love his scores, regardless of the super side of it, but I do think he elevates material.

Lots of #SDCC material we haven’t talked about or did so piecemeal, so here:

Gifted trailer (fox) – not optimistic, though I do generally prefer Jamie Chung over no Jamie Chung. As much as I love references between films or between TV and film series that show connections in the story, it’s fraught with challenge and often doesn’t work (or goes in one direction only, awkwardly)… so I give them a little bit of credit for making Gifted it’s own continuity, and not sharing with Legion or the films. That said, it’s fraught with mainstream viewer confusion and seems like a matter of time before James Marsten or whomever will show up on one of these shows anyway… that’s a bad example I guess, being a recast victim.

New Defenders trailer, with slightly more cohesion. I’m 100% on board. Doubly so, now that they’ve announced a new showrunner for Iron Fist S-2. Granted it’s the guy who brought you the Elektra film, but still. Also, Misty Knight added, so there’s that.

I saw Spidey with my man Lung the other night, and during the same tired Justice League trailer he turned to me, fueled by some tequila, to be fair, and announced the JL film was going to “kick ass”… I have been far less optimistic just from the monotony of the early trailer images of the dark mucky muck fighting environment and the blah generic dark mucky muck Parademons, and my personal grievance, the horribly written ‘You… me… the others…’ followed by WW asking again about ‘the others’… UGH UGH UUUUUUGH. That said, new trailer brings the hope back, doesn’t it? Plus, news of Flash now being a Flashpoint storyline is encouraging too. I love multiverse stuff. Speaking of, Steppenwolf in the new trailer says a few choice things: he mentions Lanterns… and he says THIS world will fall, like all the others. More multiverse business!

And the Alex Ross references are DOOOPE. Meanwhile, the buzz on the supernet is about how Henry Caville’s MI6 mustache is causing much digital post-editing of reshoot material on Whedon’s JL-fixery. Setting aside the fact that this sort of thing isn’t as uncommon as people seem to think, I was amused by a tweet by McQuarry, hard at work on MI6, that basically said that if they had to add a fake mustache to Cavill on MI6 it would need to be held on by staples. Funny, not just because it sidesteps that they could be adding it digitally just as easily (but shouldn’t as it’s their time and contract now, for Cavill, not JL) but because it’s a clever way of reminding people that the MI films are all action and will be fun and kinetic. Good move!

So Captain Marvel will be set in the 90s and feature the Skrulls. I’m really, REALLY, enthused about this. Different time period, use of my favorite Marvel alien race, just ripe for drama and betrayal, etc… all the interesting things we get design-wise by going early 90s… I mean, I’m thrilled. Now, how to shunt Carol to the modern era afterward? We aren’t going to be burying Brie Larson’s radiance in makeup… already did that, and understandably so, with Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. As for how Marvel is playing in the FF toolbox, remember, all sorts of things have been cooking behind the scenes between Disney Marvel and Sony Marvel and Fox Marvel… here’s concept art, which is quite reassuring, costume-wise.

Probably the most exciting material that has been officially released from the show (ie. not Infinity War mumble grumble) is the new Ragnarok trailer, which causes aneurysms of yeee. The idea that a lot of this film was improvised (and not in an IM1 way) despite Disney scrutiny makes me very happy. That’s what you hire Waititi for. I’m looking at YOU, Star Wars Disney.

I do like the cinematic Spidey suit a LOT. I’m much less enthused about what people are calling the Iron Spidey but is really just Limited Edition Gold Foil Variant Spidey from Infinity Wars. I wish we were getting the ‘Superior Spider-Man’ concept suit instead.

I’m really interested in Ed Piskor’s experimental X-Men project. First, his Hip-Hop Family Tree series was and is amazing. But beyond that, I guess I have a personal interest in the ‘grand summary’ concept of distilling a metric ton of continuity into a single story. I’ve loved mini-series or other projects that poke into different periods in ‘original continuity’ Marvel* and on a highly specific, and self-promoting note, it’s essentially what I’m doing with the TRDL Universe: there’s a huge amount of content in the timeline for this world, described in the sourcebooks… I could never illustrate it all… but I CAN illustrate snapshots in the timeline, weaving a common thread between them, which is what we have cooking. Anyway, I’m stoked on the project.

*I say ‘original continuity’ because all the callbacks seem to be written by writers like me who are my age and have been reading since I have, and are going back to the pre-retcon era of Marvel, ie. prior to the relaunches and rewrites and universe redefinitioning that Marvel succumbed to, the way DC had since the 80s… to me it’s everything from the 60s to the very early 90s, and then more or less into the early 2000s, after which Marvel continuity ate itself, orobouros style. Admittedly, we’ve played fast and loose with continuity from the golden age… but I mean, I don’t even know how time WORKS at Marvel anymore. Even beyond the multiversing and universe rewriting and dimensional folding and all this, and even beyond largely ignoring the lack of aging of many characters and the fix of truncating time so that events in the 60s happened ‘a few years ago’ in current continuity, etc I bristle when we see a retelling of early stories, set in continuity, where people are using cell phones and modern affectations… I get that it’s a paradox, that we can’t let the X-Men be birthed in the 60s while at the same time not have the original X-Men be in their late 60s/early 70s… but I guess for me, that’s what I WANT to see. Aged heroes, young next gen people picking up the costumes, etc. One of the most interesting things in Marvel continuity has been when Steve Rogers would lose the serum and be suddenly a senior (with abs)… and recently, with Old Man Logan shunted into main continuity, same deal. But comics are written, traditionally for tweens and teens in a three year looping window of attention span, and I get that. Anyway.

Here’s Kurse using M-16s for no reason, straight out of Williamson’s Thor run… wow!

Listen, if this is a TEASER trailer, I don’t want to see any trailer trailers. I’m already sold on this film just on the pedigree of the director, the Thor roomate shorts, and the punchline in this above. And that’s saying something, as the Kirby-meets-80s-Galleria-Mall aesthetic is not my personal favorite.

Meanwhile, Robot’s Root:

Much knee-jerk hullabaloo has been made of Disney’s patent filings for a soft interactive robot. Westworld! They cry. However, this is basically an R/C airbag concept, so not only would I suggest we consider Baymax from Big Hero 6, which was the best thing ever, but in fact that’s the first intended application of this design: a Baymax toy. So. I’m on board!

Lung teased me with the Robot Soldier toy coming out, and how, as tenuous landed gentry, we have no disposable income for such things. To hell with that, I’ve seen heist films (and none of their endings) what could go wrong.

According to two reference links I cannot access in Indonesia, apparently Captain Marvel will be the ‘most powerful character in the MCU’ which I certainly hope is hyperbole. I mean, I’m hot to see Brie Larson kick ass as much as the next nerd, but let’s settle down.

I haven’t been following ANY content-related stuff related to GitS, though I’ve certainly read about the disastrous box office, and the general criticisms. I reserve judgment for when Lung and I see it later this month. In the meantime: hilarious rework of the trailer mixed with review blips (the BAD ones)…

King Conan appears to be DOA. I’m disappointed. It was the best, most rational use of older Schwartzenegger (sp) in any of these films he’s doing. Aged, broken down Conan. COME ON. It would have been awesome. Oh well oh well oh well.

Listen, I may be the only long-time follower of the Weekly Planet podcast, but I mentioned earlier that Mr. Sunday Movies (James Clement) finally revealed himself as part of the Movember fundraiser/ podcasting network lunch event a few weeks ago. The video is up now, in addition to the early photos. The 360 camera footage is pretty amazing, BTW. I need to look into these devices. I’ve never seen a pan-style wide angle video shot and released on youtube before. It’s worth checking out for that if nothing else. I knew all that VRML work I did in 1996 would pay off… sort of…